Benji Madden: “The First Cheque From Good Charlotte Was Spent Getting Our Mom A Place To Live”

The start of Good Charlotte wasn't a reach for fame and glory- it was a way to get out of a tough situation.

Good Charlotte are your Hall Of Fame winners at the 2018 Rock Sound Awards! Pick up your commemorative Good Charlotte Rock Sound Awards magazine cover now from AWARDS.ROCKSOUND.TV

After 20+ years and seven albums, Good Charlotte have well and truly earned their place in the Hall Of Fame. But it wasn't a smooth ride to the top- when they started out, Good Charlotte was born out of necessity. It's a band built on a desire to build better lives not just for themselves, but for their families too.

Talking to Rock Sound about how the band came to start, Benji Madden shared “It was about survival. When we started, we were in a tough situation, and saw music as a possible way out. Our mom was in a tough place, and our first goal was to see if we could get her into a better situation - we weren’t thinking about much else. We were thinking, ‘Oh man, if we can make this band work, we can really help our family out’. We put all of that energy and frustration, which could have been a lot of more negative, into the music."

He continued "I felt really blessed, because instead of things turning dark, we had music to focus on. And we achieved that goal - the first cheque we ever got from Good Charlotte was spent on our family, getting our mom a place to live. We’re forever grateful for the band and the scene for allowing us to do that. It was an amazing outlet for our feelings and our frustrations at the time.”

This is just a taster- check out the full, in-depth interview with Benji and Joel Madden inside the Rock Sound Awards issue. Get your special Good Charlotte magazine cover and poster print now from AWARDS.ROCKSOUND.TV